Peace, dignity and equality
Even as the world looks to step up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, taking measures to adapt to the already inevitable impacts of climate change is just as important. The 6th edition of the UNEP Adaptation Gap Report: The Gathering Storm finds that estimated adaptation costs in developing countries are five to ten times greater than current public adaptation finance flows. On the positive side, the report shows that around 79% of countries have adopted at least one national-level adaptation planning instrument. Find out more at the launch of the report on 4 November (11:30am GMT).
3 November 2021 — It’s ‘Finance Day’ at COP26, and the spotlight is on a big announcement: nearly 500 global financial services firms agreed on Wednesday to align $130 trillion – some 40 per cent...
3 November 2021 — All parties involved in the escalating conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray must stop fighting immediately, or else risk pushing the region’s catastrophic humanitarian situation “over...
2 November 2021 — A pivotal pledge to save and restore our planet’s forests was officially announced on the second day of the COP26 World Leaders Summit, and with that deal came a long list of...
The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.
COP 26: UN Climate Change Summit
The latest round of global climate talks take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Thousands of government delegates and people from civil society, business and the media will gather to advance climate action.
The ActNow campaign aims to trigger individual action on the defining issue of our time. People around the world have joined to make a difference in all facets of their lives, from the food they eat to the clothes they wear.
With just 10 years to go, an ambitious global effort is underway to deliver the 2030 promise—by mobilizing more governments, civil society, businesses and calling on all people to make the Global Goals their own.
Featured stories from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.
WFP, Climate Change
The Conference of Parties (COP) is the big UN Climate Change summit gathering the signatory countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. World leaders, negotiators, representatives of civil society, business, and international organizations meet annually to discuss how to address the world’s climate crisis, which impacts all parts of the global food system – from production to consumption. As global powers meet in Glasgow on 31 October to 12 November, WFP joins humanitarian organizations daring to hope for decisions that will save millions from hunger.
UNCTAD, Climate Change
UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2021 outlines reforms of the international financial system to get more climate adaptation funds flowing to developing countries. Released ahead of the COP26 climate summit, the report calls for a transformative approach to climate adaptation, with advanced economies ensuring that multilateral institutions can support developing countries to manage the changing climate. Estimates indicate that annual climate adaptation costs in developing countries could reach $300 billion in 2030, yet current funding is less than a quarter of that figure.
Climate Change
New reports published ahead of the COP26 climate summit show that even though decision-making and technical panels under UN Climate Change (known as “constituted bodies”) are increasingly integrating a gender perspective into their work, male overrepresentation in government delegations persists. Equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women is vital to achieve climate goals. While women and girls around the world are demanding more climate action and have received increasing recognition for their leadership, women’s voices are not yet equally represented.
The World Bank commits to increase climate finance targets to 35% of total commitments over the next five years, align financing flows with the Paris Agreement, and integrate climate and development.
Building materials and the construction sector accounts for 11 per cent of annual carbon dioxide emissions. A UN-Habitat project shows how a construction project can help achieve a carbon-free world.
Climate impacts are widespread, rapid, and intensifying. UNEP will be working towards three goals at COP26: raising national level ambitions, stimulate private funding, and reducing GHG emissions.
A new report from UNOPS, UNEP and the University of Oxford reveals how infrastructure defines our climate and calls for radical changes in the way governments plan, design and manage infrastructure.
Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, including:
The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies.
The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law. Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.
One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character." The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild. The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.
From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.
The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained." Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization. This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary. These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty. As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it. The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.
The main parts of the UN structure are the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.
The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.
The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).
The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs.
Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society.
Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.
While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions still lives on less than US$1.90 a day — the internationally agreed poverty line, and millions of others live on slightly more than this daily amount.
The UN’s 75th anniversary in 2020 arrived at a time of great upheaval and peril. To secure a world where everyone can thrive in peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet we need a multilateral system that is inclusive, networked and effective. "Our Common Agenda" builds on the 12 commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration.
As the world’s only truly universal global organization, the United Nations has become the foremost forum to address issues that transcend national boundaries and cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone.
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Video and audio from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.
The world spends an astounding US$423 billion annually to subsidize fossil fuels for consumers – oil, electricity that is generated by the burning of other fossil fuels, gas, and coal. This is four times the amount being called for to help poor countries tackle the climate crisis, one of the sticking points ahead of the COP26 global climate summit, according to new UNDP research. The main contributor to the climate emergency is the energy sector which accounts for 73 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuel subsidy reforms would contribute to reducing CO2 emissions
Nuclear technology and applications contribute to tackling climate change. As the only world forum in the nuclear field, the IAEA continues to contribute to an informed debate on the benefits of nuclear power and applications in the many international events, including COP26, where political leaders, industry, scientists and civil society will discuss the way forward.
“Our actions are our future and the future is in our hands! We can all become food heroes Do it for the people, do it for the land!” The song created for FAO’s Food Heroes campaign was written and produced by Garry McCarthy. Music & video produced by GMCBeats at The Kabin Studio. Lyrics performed by children in Armenia, Cameroon, Chile, China, Ireland & Lebanon.
The coal plant never saw it coming.
When a new coal project was quietly announced, Chibeze Ezekiel began mobilizing his community to resist, by educating them about the danger of fossil fuels. In the end, Goliath was no match for Mr. Ezekiel's “submarine” campaign, and Ghana went on to commit to renewable energy for all future projects.
In this episode of No Denying It, the UN climate action podcast, UN News talked to Mr. Ezekiel about why we should be treating climate change with the same urgency we have treated COVID-19, how he works with local leaders and youth to protect Ghana’s environment, and why he faced arrest for simply speaking out against coal.
Images from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.
Urgent call for adaptation funding at COP26
Staple crops in eight African countries could decrease by as much as 80 percent by 2050 in some areas if temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, according to a report released today by IFAD. This could have a catastrophic impact on poverty and food availability unless there is an urgent injection of funding to help vulnerable farmers adapt how and what they farm. The organisation warned that COP26 will fail to achieve a lasting impact if world leaders continue to prioritise mitigation and neglect investments in climate adaptation.
COP26: ‘To fix the climate crisis we must address broken food systems’
Our food systems are breaking the planet – and the climate crisis is breaking our food systems. These are two of the biggest problems the world is facing today, and subject to the two biggest conversations the UN. At the UN Food Systems Summit in September, the WFP issued a wake-up call: 811 million people are going to bed hungry in countries where food systems are unequal, strained or broken. Yet, as more than 190 countries come together for COP26, the topic of food systems is yet to make it into the mainstream conversation at UN climate meetings.
